The day began early in order to catch an 8:00 am (7:00 am MDT) session at the Winter Quarters Temple. The temple is very nice. It has stained glass windows throughout. And to make the windows even more cool, there are circular windows inside the stained glass windows with sketches of different pioneer scenes.
I returned to the hotel, made a quick change and we hit the road at about 10:15 am (9:15 am MDT) in search of a gas station that also sold diesel. What up Nebraska?! After driving down the freeway until my nerves were on edge, we finally found an exit with fueling stations. On top of being impossible to locate the road to the different stations, none of them had diesel. I had to go to a truck stop and use the truckers messy, leaky pumps.
We decided that Omaha is on another planet. The other places we visited were each different, but they were all in America. Not Omaha. The only time it felt normal was when we were at the temple. This perception was certainly perpetuated by the petroleum procurement problems. All of Nebraska was strange, but Omaha was not on this planet.
As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, the batteries in the camera died; no pictures today.
Nebraska is FLAT!
We stopped in Kearney, Nebraska to grab some lunch and check out our first Cabella's store. I hope that the other stores are more impressive than the one in Kearney. Two-thirds of the store was clothes and two thirds of those were either camouflage or hunter orange. I did get a hiking pole from the clearance rack for Philmont and the kids got Life is Good caps. I wanted to see more camping gear. I did hear a lot of twang; a hunting store in Nebraska.
At one point we passed a feed lot and Jen was asking some questions. I cracked a dumb joke about the cows and we started to giggle. It quickly escalated into hilarious, uproarious laughter. I was trying to drive with tears coming out of my eyes and filling up my glasses. This lasted for 5 miles. Then we chuckled for another couple of miles. Later on we were in cruising I-76 close to Denver and Jen brought it up again, started chuckling, and got me started again. Next thing I knew, we were laughing again. I guess we just needed a good laugh after hours of driving.
We finally arrived home at 8:00 pm MDT (8:00 pm local time). The trip was absolutely wonderful. We want to do it again. The kids travelled very well. My only complaint on that front is that, because Heber is recently potty-trained, we have to stop whenever he says he needs to go. (On a side note, this also means that we passed many semi's three or four times) The kids were excited with many of the sites and behaved themselves very well for the most part. But it is sooo good to be home.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Spring Break 2009 Trip Day 5 Winter Quarters
Today dawned gray and chilly. But then again, so has every day of our trip. Today was a little colder than the rest except maybe Monday morning in Colorado Springs. From emails on my blackberry to comments left on voicemails, we got the feeling that Colorado has been getting buried. The checks of the weather this morning on the internet confirmed that snow was in the forecast today for Colorado Springs. But we were traversing Iowa and the forecast looked good, sunny skies.
So we bid a reluctant farewell to Nauvoo at 8:00 am MDT (9:00 am local time). The kids actually said good bye to the temple as we passed. After a short trip east and north, we left Illinois and crossed into Iowa. The bridge was narrow and had some strange, abrupt angles.

This was the second and last time crossing the Mississippi this trip.

After crossing the Mississippi River, we were in Iowa where we would spend most of the trip today.

The kids soon found ways to entertain themselves. Here the girls are making their McDonalds toys into Superdogs with Kleenex.

Iowa is painfully flat. The horizon in some areas is a razor thin, perfectly flat line. And one thing they could really use is an infusion of trees if for no other reason than they could really use the wind break. Once we hit I-80 and headed east, we were bucking the wind. I don't know how you did it, Perigo family. 
We crossed the Missouri River into Nebraska and knew we were close, but close to what?

Although Google Maps and directions on my Blackberry have served us extremely well this trip (my battery is constantly dead because the GPS is constantly tracking our location and showing me on the map real-time), it was nice that things were well signed when we started getting close. This was especially helpful when we got to a turn and weren't sure because the street sign was missing. These big green signs steered us to our destination.

As we crested the hill, the temple came into view. Then came into view a building right across a side street from the temple that had a Mormon Pioneer Trail Center sign. We pulled in to ask about lodging. (We already knew the schedule and number of the temple because we had looked them up on the Blackberry on the road.) The missionary at the front desk was genuinely excited to talk to us and gave us a discount flier that they had worked out with one of the hotels. I called the hotel right there and made a reservation. It is just a Comfort Inn, but the rate it half what we could have gotten on our own.
The view of the visitor's center from the temple gate.
So we bid a reluctant farewell to Nauvoo at 8:00 am MDT (9:00 am local time). The kids actually said good bye to the temple as we passed. After a short trip east and north, we left Illinois and crossed into Iowa. The bridge was narrow and had some strange, abrupt angles.
This was the second and last time crossing the Mississippi this trip.
After crossing the Mississippi River, we were in Iowa where we would spend most of the trip today.
The kids soon found ways to entertain themselves. Here the girls are making their McDonalds toys into Superdogs with Kleenex.
Iowa is painfully flat. The horizon in some areas is a razor thin, perfectly flat line. And one thing they could really use is an infusion of trees if for no other reason than they could really use the wind break. Once we hit I-80 and headed east, we were bucking the wind. I don't know how you did it, Perigo family.
When we were planning this trip, we had a difficult time making hotel reservations for Nebraska. We were planning on spending LAST night here, but we kept getting the run around on getting a hotel room. When we got to Nauvoo, we discovered that the Woodruff Hotel and booked us for 3 nights, so we decided to stay for 3 nights. And it turned out to be a very good thing. We still didn't get all we wanted to do done. And as we were planning this trip, we couldn't get any information on Winter Quarters on the internet.
So we headed out this morning for the unknown with no hotel reservation. We had no idea where we were going to stay or what we were going to do when we got here. We just hoped to attend the Winter Quarters Temple, see the cemetary and hopefully find some other stuff to do.
As we got near the border (the Missouri River), we started seeing signs for the Mormon Trail and were a little encouraged.
We crossed the Missouri River into Nebraska and knew we were close, but close to what?
Although Google Maps and directions on my Blackberry have served us extremely well this trip (my battery is constantly dead because the GPS is constantly tracking our location and showing me on the map real-time), it was nice that things were well signed when we started getting close. This was especially helpful when we got to a turn and weren't sure because the street sign was missing. These big green signs steered us to our destination.
As we crested the hill, the temple came into view. Then came into view a building right across a side street from the temple that had a Mormon Pioneer Trail Center sign. We pulled in to ask about lodging. (We already knew the schedule and number of the temple because we had looked them up on the Blackberry on the road.) The missionary at the front desk was genuinely excited to talk to us and gave us a discount flier that they had worked out with one of the hotels. I called the hotel right there and made a reservation. It is just a Comfort Inn, but the rate it half what we could have gotten on our own.
Then the missionary called and made reservations at the temple for Jen for the session that was starting in a half hour and one for me first thing in the morning. Jen changed in the bathroom there and walked across the street to the temple. The kids and I watched a video and took a tour of the center. Then we walked across the street to the cemetery where the camera batteries died. I planned to get more pictures of the cemetery and some of the temple. It is definitely one of the smaller temples. Jen said that it is very much like the Reno temple inside. It is cold here. Then we hurried back to get inside the building and hung out until Jen's session was done.
The view of the visitor's center from the temple gate.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Spring Break 2009 Trip Day 4 Nauvoo
What a day!! WHAT A DAY!!! Our day started off with an in room continental breakfast again, but this time we had filled out a slip of paper and got a selection more to our tastes. We planned to be at the visitor's center at 9:00 am to get tickets for a 10:00 am wagon ride. We showed up to an open but apparently entirely empty visitor's center. Then we heard a talk or something coming from a theater. It turned out that Elder Neuenschwander (sp?) was visiting and the missionaries were having a meeting. The meeting got out at 10:00 am making the first wagon ride of the day the 12:00 pm ride.
We were able to talk one of the missionaries into showing us a movie out of turn since the schedules were all thrown off anyway. They showed us a movie about the Prophet Joseph Smith that played at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building a couple of years ago. I think it is called Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration. It is an amazing and moving movie. Several times during the movie I tried to put myself in the Prophet's shoes and each time I came up short (no pun intended). He was an amazing man, prophet, and leader.
The wagon ride was fun. One of the senior missionaries narrated while Ben and Rocky (the horses) did all the work. We just got to sit there and have things pointed out to us. The following picture is one of the Nauvoo groves in which outdoor meetings were held.
Along Parley Street to the Mississippi River is a trail called the Trail of Hope (formerly called the Trail of Sorrow. The Saint marched down Parley Street to the river to cross over to Montrose during the exodus. The trail contains plaques with statements from exodus participants. (This cow was watching us as if we were the items of interest.

This is a statue of Joseph and Brigham at the Pioneer Memorial and Exodus to Greatness. This is the point at which they crossed the river to Montrose, IA.

This is a picture of the temple taken from the wagon. This is from the "flats" where most of the Old Nauvoo restoration has taken place.

You can't read the sign, but this carriage was once owned by Heber C Kimball. We wound up taking Heber's picture a lot. When the missionaries would get curious about what we were doing and we would explain that we were taking Heber C's picture with Heber C's stuff, they would get excited and start treating Heber special. And you go from house to shop to house, all with different people, all who need an explanation, all who think it is neat and treat him special for their 15 to 20 minutes. It go to the point that the first thing out of his mouth was, "I'm Heber C." I felt bad for the other kids. We realized today the Heber C Kimball's wife was named Anna and, of course, Spencer W was his descendant. We are trying to find a Rachel link.

The kids got to help make rope.


We were able to talk one of the missionaries into showing us a movie out of turn since the schedules were all thrown off anyway. They showed us a movie about the Prophet Joseph Smith that played at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building a couple of years ago. I think it is called Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration. It is an amazing and moving movie. Several times during the movie I tried to put myself in the Prophet's shoes and each time I came up short (no pun intended). He was an amazing man, prophet, and leader.
The wagon ride was fun. One of the senior missionaries narrated while Ben and Rocky (the horses) did all the work. We just got to sit there and have things pointed out to us. The following picture is one of the Nauvoo groves in which outdoor meetings were held.
Along Parley Street to the Mississippi River is a trail called the Trail of Hope (formerly called the Trail of Sorrow. The Saint marched down Parley Street to the river to cross over to Montrose during the exodus. The trail contains plaques with statements from exodus participants. (This cow was watching us as if we were the items of interest.
They offered covered wagon rides pulled by oxen, but we didn't get down that far. So much to do and so little time.
This is a statue of Joseph and Brigham at the Pioneer Memorial and Exodus to Greatness. This is the point at which they crossed the river to Montrose, IA.
This is a picture of the temple taken from the wagon. This is from the "flats" where most of the Old Nauvoo restoration has taken place.
You can't read the sign, but this carriage was once owned by Heber C Kimball. We wound up taking Heber's picture a lot. When the missionaries would get curious about what we were doing and we would explain that we were taking Heber C's picture with Heber C's stuff, they would get excited and start treating Heber special. And you go from house to shop to house, all with different people, all who need an explanation, all who think it is neat and treat him special for their 15 to 20 minutes. It go to the point that the first thing out of his mouth was, "I'm Heber C." I felt bad for the other kids. We realized today the Heber C Kimball's wife was named Anna and, of course, Spencer W was his descendant. We are trying to find a Rachel link.
The kids got to help make rope.
This is obviously the Heber C Kimball home. This house was cool for several reasons: it is historical, it is big and comfortable, and it started it all. Heber's great grandson bought this home in 1954 and restored it intending to use it as a summer home for his family, but it became a popular tourist attraction so he started a Nauvoo restoration society and began the work that has brought us what we have today.


Sorry, no pictures of the Smith properties. They are owned by the Community of Christ Church (formerly the RLDS). They do not allow pictures in the Smith properties. They do put on a good tour (the introductory video is a little different). It was cool to see the places and even some of the original furniture.
Sorry, no pictures of the Smith properties. They are owned by the Community of Christ Church (formerly the RLDS). They do not allow pictures in the Smith properties. They do put on a good tour (the introductory video is a little different). It was cool to see the places and even some of the original furniture.
After we got done with all of this, we made it back to the hotel too late for dinner (it was after 5:00 pm). So while I headed to the temple, Jen and the kids loaded up to head for the next town over to get some dinner. The temple was AMAZING! It is beautiful. It is old school so it has different rooms for the different steps in progression. There are three different murals in three different rooms.Unfortunately, the early bird gets the front of the room, so I didn't get to see as much of the murals as I would like to have.
As a follow up to a comment I made earlier, I was pondering some of the day's events while in the temple and I thought of the video from this morning. While I will never measure up to the Prophet, I realized that who he was, he owed to the Lord. And the Lord is willing to help me overcome my shortcomings, too.
Before the temple session, I had a discussion with the officiator during which I expressed a desire to see the baptistry. After the session, he found me in the locker room and offered to escort me to the baptistry. I also got to see the sword Joseph gave to Brother Allred. It is in the President's office. What a great trip and what a fabulous day.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Spring Break 2009 Trip Day 3 Nauvoo
Day 3 started out with a continental breakfast in the hotel room. This hotel brings the breakfast the night before and provides a coffee maker to heat water for the oatmeal, the hot chocolate, and the hot cider. It's a great idea that allows us to eat breakfast on our own schedule and saves us the time of getting dressed and going to the lobby. It doesn't give us the luxury of chocolate chip waffles though.
The first item on the agenda for today was a trip to Carthage to visit the historic Carthage Jail. Another gloomy, gray day brought a cool wind that was made cold by the humidity.

The visitor's center at the Carthage Jail was nearly empty. There were three other groups with our family in our tour. After viewing a short video of the history of the prophet (The actor that portrayed the prophet looked just like the statues and the pictures of Joseph Smith. I also never realized how much Ray Romano looks like Joseph Smith. Visit Carthage. You'll see.) Then we got a tour of the jail. Talk about history coming to life. Standing in that building and trying to picture the events occurring as the Senior Missionary recounted them was incredible and moving.

Heber and Anna are seated on the window sill of the actual window through which Joseph fell at his death. The walls of the jail house are 3' thick, so the sill is deep. And the jail house is just that, a house. This is acutally the bedroom of the couple that ran the jail. They moved the group into this room to keep them safe from prowlers around the jail and moved themselves and their family downstairs.

The hole by Rachel's head is believed to have been made by the bullet that killed Hyrum. This is the original door. There is a piece that was cut out and replaced just above the latch, but the door is the original door and believed to be in mostly the original condition.

This cell is called the dungeon cell even though it is on the 2nd floor. It is completely encased in limestone and timbers. The group was moved from this room because is got too hot. There are tiny windows and poor ventilation. Had they been in this cell, probably ever member of the group would have been killed.

The front of the jail house.

The window on the second story is the window through which the prophet fell. I don't think the courtyard was concrete back then.

We are standing in front of a statue of the Smith brothers.

The kids are standing near the main entrance to the Nauvoo Temple. Mom is inside attending a session. When we returned from Carthage, she went to the Temple while the kids had some "quiet" time. It actually worked. Everyone but Spencer took a cat nap. Then we visited the accommodations house and viewed some videos about the temple. The inside of this temple is BEAUTIFUL. I can't wait for my turn tomorrow. Then we came back and waited for Mom.

The view from the front gate of the temple.

Looking down from the bluff across Old Nauvoo. It is giving me spring fever to see all the green. There were green fields here and there in Kansas, but Missouri and Illinois have a lot of green. Some of the trees in Missouri have started to leaf out. I have decided that if I were called back to one of the settlements in Missouri to help establish one of the several temples for which the cornerstones were laid and the site dedicated in one of the several communites dedicated in Missouri, I could survive it. It is not as flat and barren as I thought it would be. The trip from Nauvoo to Carthage... flatter than Kansas... flatter than a basketball court. Kansas? Well, Paige had it exactly right when she said watching Kansas is "BOOORING".

Self explanatory from our previous discussions.

After Mom got back to the hotel and changed, we went to the visitor's center to plan our day tomorrow and get whatever tickets we are going to need. It turned out that they had some cancellations for tonight's Rendezvous With Old Nauvoo so we got tickets for tonight's show. Then we wandered until dinner.
The first item on the agenda for today was a trip to Carthage to visit the historic Carthage Jail. Another gloomy, gray day brought a cool wind that was made cold by the humidity.
The visitor's center at the Carthage Jail was nearly empty. There were three other groups with our family in our tour. After viewing a short video of the history of the prophet (The actor that portrayed the prophet looked just like the statues and the pictures of Joseph Smith. I also never realized how much Ray Romano looks like Joseph Smith. Visit Carthage. You'll see.) Then we got a tour of the jail. Talk about history coming to life. Standing in that building and trying to picture the events occurring as the Senior Missionary recounted them was incredible and moving.
Heber and Anna are seated on the window sill of the actual window through which Joseph fell at his death. The walls of the jail house are 3' thick, so the sill is deep. And the jail house is just that, a house. This is acutally the bedroom of the couple that ran the jail. They moved the group into this room to keep them safe from prowlers around the jail and moved themselves and their family downstairs.
The hole by Rachel's head is believed to have been made by the bullet that killed Hyrum. This is the original door. There is a piece that was cut out and replaced just above the latch, but the door is the original door and believed to be in mostly the original condition.
This cell is called the dungeon cell even though it is on the 2nd floor. It is completely encased in limestone and timbers. The group was moved from this room because is got too hot. There are tiny windows and poor ventilation. Had they been in this cell, probably ever member of the group would have been killed.
The front of the jail house.
The window on the second story is the window through which the prophet fell. I don't think the courtyard was concrete back then.
We are standing in front of a statue of the Smith brothers.
The kids are standing near the main entrance to the Nauvoo Temple. Mom is inside attending a session. When we returned from Carthage, she went to the Temple while the kids had some "quiet" time. It actually worked. Everyone but Spencer took a cat nap. Then we visited the accommodations house and viewed some videos about the temple. The inside of this temple is BEAUTIFUL. I can't wait for my turn tomorrow. Then we came back and waited for Mom.
The view from the front gate of the temple.
Looking down from the bluff across Old Nauvoo. It is giving me spring fever to see all the green. There were green fields here and there in Kansas, but Missouri and Illinois have a lot of green. Some of the trees in Missouri have started to leaf out. I have decided that if I were called back to one of the settlements in Missouri to help establish one of the several temples for which the cornerstones were laid and the site dedicated in one of the several communites dedicated in Missouri, I could survive it. It is not as flat and barren as I thought it would be. The trip from Nauvoo to Carthage... flatter than Kansas... flatter than a basketball court. Kansas? Well, Paige had it exactly right when she said watching Kansas is "BOOORING".
Self explanatory from our previous discussions.
After Mom got back to the hotel and changed, we went to the visitor's center to plan our day tomorrow and get whatever tickets we are going to need. It turned out that they had some cancellations for tonight's Rendezvous With Old Nauvoo so we got tickets for tonight's show. Then we wandered until dinner.
The show was at 7:00 pm local time. It was a great time. It is put on by the senior missionaries. There must have been nearly 20 couples involved in the show. They acted and they sang and they involved the crowd. We laughed and we shouted and we clapped and had a great time. They reserved the front two rows for kids and they talk directly to the kids and point at them and believe it or not, our kids sat quietly and attentively up there all by themselves. The older two never even came back to us once.
The kids are now sound asleep and a good thing, too. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow full of wagon rides and historic houses and museums and shops. And I get my turn to see the temple.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Spring Break 2009 Trip Day 2 Nauvoo
Here goes my first attempt at blogging. YEAH for me.-Jen
The 2nd day came after little sleep because of coughing kids throughout the night. But we did get to have chocolate chip waffles for breakfast down in the hotel lobby. So that made up for the lost sleep.
With the kids bellies full and ready to go, we headed out for the great unknown. And unknown is definitely the word. We got lost and headed in the wrong direction (including a stretch going the wrong way on a toll road with no warning or way to exit, Vern biting the head off of some poor toll booth worker, and much muttering about the sacrilege about having to pay to use a "freeway", I-70) but finally got back heading the right way and were off to see what Missouri had in store for us.
Even thought it was cloudy, Vern and I couldn't believe that the view around us was so nice. Of course I didn't know what to expect, but I was happy to see that it wasn't all that flat and had lots of rolling hills.
Here a diesel went through the guard rail and into the creek below. Another semi was pulled over about a half mile up the hill without a driver. We wondered if he hadn't run this truck off the road.
After finally getting through Missouri and without any mob trouble (we removed the "CTR" bumper sticker in Kansas ;-)), we got to go through Iowa for about 5 whole minutes. This is Keokuk, IA.
And then we got to the Mississippi River. WOW!! That thing is HUGE!! I couldn't believe the size and the width of it. Though I thought that it would be a lot deeper, it wasn't. I thought that I could see the Loch Ness Monster at one point and Rachel swore she could see a shark. But it was only branches of trees that had fallen.
And then we were finally there. NAUVOO! I was so excited, the kids were excited and I think Vern was excited to not be driving any more.
Here is our hotel.
Spencer had gotten out of the truck first and was off exploring while Dad was checking us in. He came running back telling me that he had seen a big statue of Joseph Smith. So we got our shoes on and headed out to see this statue. I really like this one.
This is a view from our room in the hotel. Isn't it awesome?! Our room is on the 3rd floor and takes up the entire north end of the building. Three beds and great views.
After we got done eating, there was a little bit of light left and a little bit of time before we needed to get the kids ready for bed so we headed over to the temple to look around.
The final pose for the night in front of the temple. The Angel Moroni was in the view window of the camera when the picture was taken. Camera's fault.
This is the stairway heading up to the third floor of the hotel and our room.
The 2nd day came after little sleep because of coughing kids throughout the night. But we did get to have chocolate chip waffles for breakfast down in the hotel lobby. So that made up for the lost sleep.
With the kids bellies full and ready to go, we headed out for the great unknown. And unknown is definitely the word. We got lost and headed in the wrong direction (including a stretch going the wrong way on a toll road with no warning or way to exit, Vern biting the head off of some poor toll booth worker, and much muttering about the sacrilege about having to pay to use a "freeway", I-70) but finally got back heading the right way and were off to see what Missouri had in store for us.
Even thought it was cloudy, Vern and I couldn't believe that the view around us was so nice. Of course I didn't know what to expect, but I was happy to see that it wasn't all that flat and had lots of rolling hills.
Here a diesel went through the guard rail and into the creek below. Another semi was pulled over about a half mile up the hill without a driver. We wondered if he hadn't run this truck off the road.
After finally getting through Missouri and without any mob trouble (we removed the "CTR" bumper sticker in Kansas ;-)), we got to go through Iowa for about 5 whole minutes. This is Keokuk, IA.
And then we got to the Mississippi River. WOW!! That thing is HUGE!! I couldn't believe the size and the width of it. Though I thought that it would be a lot deeper, it wasn't. I thought that I could see the Loch Ness Monster at one point and Rachel swore she could see a shark. But it was only branches of trees that had fallen.
And then we were finally there. NAUVOO! I was so excited, the kids were excited and I think Vern was excited to not be driving any more.
Here is our hotel.
Spencer had gotten out of the truck first and was off exploring while Dad was checking us in. He came running back telling me that he had seen a big statue of Joseph Smith. So we got our shoes on and headed out to see this statue. I really like this one.
This is a view from our room in the hotel. Isn't it awesome?! Our room is on the 3rd floor and takes up the entire north end of the building. Three beds and great views.
This is Zion's Mercantile (ZCMI). It's where we checked in to our room and then had dinner with half a million, give or take, senior missionaries.
After we got done eating, there was a little bit of light left and a little bit of time before we needed to get the kids ready for bed so we headed over to the temple to look around.
This statue is across the street from the temple. It is a statue of the moment that Joseph and Hyrum paused to look at Nauvoo and the unfinished temple on their last journey together, to Carthage, where we are headed in the morning.
The final pose for the night in front of the temple. The Angel Moroni was in the view window of the camera when the picture was taken. Camera's fault.
This is the stairway heading up to the third floor of the hotel and our room.
Here is the sun going down over the Mississippi River as seen from our hotel room.
With the kids bathed and ready for bed, it was time to say good night. Even though, if you ask me, they look a little too awake to be going to bed. But it didn't take them long to zonk out and leave Mom and Dad with some quiet time. Oh, the quiet. So there is day 2 of our journey.
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